(Field Level Media) Blake Griffin scored 30 points and the Detroit Pistons continued their success at home over the New York Knicks with a 115-108 victory last night.
Griffin produced his sixth 30-point game of the season as Detroit shot 47.5 percent, controlled the paint by a 56-38 margin and posted its fourth straight home win. Reserve Stanley Johnson and starter Reggie Jackson contributed 21 points apiece as the Pistons also won for the seventh time in their last nine games overall.
Rookie Allonzo Trier led the Knicks with 24 points and 10 rebounds off the bench but New York saw a three-game winning streak end and was unable to pull off a second straight road comeback after beating Memphis on Sunday.
Tim Hardaway Jr. added 19, Damyean Dotson finished with 17 while Enes Kanter contributed 16 and 14 rebounds as the Knicks shot 39.6 percent and missed 18 of 27 3-point attempts.
The Pistons began taking control late in the first quarter by closing out the period with a 10-2 run. The Knicks were down five early in the second but the Pistons took their first double-digit lead on a Jackson layup with about seven minutes left and opened a 46-30 lead on Jackson’s 3-pointer two minutes later.
By halftime, New York was within 51-43 after Hardaway beat the buzzer with a fadeaway jumper. The Knicks were within 74-68 on a layup by Kanter with 95 seconds left in the third but Detroit held an 81-70 lead into the fourth.
Detroit took a 91-74 lead on a layup by Ish Smith with about nine minutes remaining but the Knicks continued to hang around as Griffin returned.
Upon returning, Griffin executed a nifty up-and-under move on Noah Vonleh for a layup and a 100-88 lead with 6:03 remaining. Then he made the feed to Jackson, who lobbed an alley-oop for a Drummond dunk to make it 104-88 with 4:47 left.
New York mounted one last comeback attempt, getting within 110-103 on a 3-pointer by Dotson with 57 seconds left. After Griffin missed a layup, Johnson chased down Trier, blocked the layup attempt with 32 seconds left and Detroit iced the game with five free throws.
